Many beverages are prepared and consumed as mixed drinks, i.e., drinks that are prepared by mixing together two or more ingredients just before serving or consuming. The ingredients of such beverages typically are not combined until the drink is prepared, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, keeping the ingredients separate prevents them from interacting with each other and thereby spoiling taste and freshness. Also, if a drink is mixed just before consumption, it can be made with ingredients and proportions that are preferred by the consumer.
Because the ingredients of a mixed drink are stored separately before preparation, a number of containers and implements are typically needed in order to prepare such a drink. For a mixed alcoholic beverage such as a cocktail, for example, typical ingredients include at least a mixing base of alcohol such as gin, whiskey, rum, or the like; and tonic water, carbonated water, ginger ale, fruit juice or some other nonalcoholic beverage that is to be mixed with the alcohol base; as well as ice. Aside from the glass or plastic bottles, metal cans or other containers that are used to store such ingredients, the mixed drink often is mixed in a cocktail shaker bottle for mixing and straining the ingredients just before serving. Other implements such as bottle openers, can openers, stirrers or measuring cups may also be needed. The drink is often poured through a strainer into a drinking glass before serving. Preparing an alcoholic or non-alcoholic mixed drink can be a time-consuming, messy and inconvenient process when a number of containers, ingredients and implements are used. Poured liquids tend to spill easily, thus requiring clean-up. Furthermore, it can be difficult to store, move, and/or set up the ingredients, drinking glasses and other implements that are needed to prepare mixed drinks for a party, picnic or other social setting for which such drinks are often served. Many of these items are made of or stored in glass, which can break easily in such settings.
A number of attempts have been made to reduce the need for plural containers and implements and/or to simplify the process of preparing mixed drinks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,774,328 provides a transparent cocktail shaker bottle that can hold a formula strip in a vertical depression on the outside surface of the shaker container. When the formula strip is vertically aligned on the shaker, it indicates to what level one should pour specific ingredients, such as sweetener, fruit juice, alcohol and ice. That invention simplifies preparation of a mixed drink by eliminating the need for separate measuring implements, and the invention enables one to prepare a variety of cocktails with consistent results by following the formulas that are set forth on the formula strips. Inventions such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,774,328, however, do not substantially decrease the number of containers that are needed to package individual ingredients or to prepare a mixed drink therefrom.
More recently, attempts have been made to package separate ingredients into two separate chambers of a single container. Because the ingredients are kept separate, they are prevented from reacting with each other and spoiling or adversely affecting flavor while they are transported, marketed and stored prior to consumption. The container typically has a large, lower chamber filled with a first ingredient, such as soda or tonic water, and a smaller, upper chamber for holding a second ingredient, such as an alcoholic beverage or a powder that effervesces when it is combined with the first ingredient. Means are provided for puncturing, breaking or otherwise opening the upper chamber so that its contents fall into the ingredient in the lower chamber. The small upper chamber may be discarded so that the consumer may drink out of the lower chamber, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,004 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,372. Alternatively, the upper part of the container may be adapted for insertion of a straw, as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,772,017 and 4,408,690.
Methods of packaging and preparing mixed drinks such as the dual-chambered containers described above suffer a number of drawbacks, such as the fact that the packaging tends to be complex, expensive, and typically not reusable or recyclable. In addition, the consumer's choice of mixing ingredients is limited by the combinations that are packaged and sold together. Furthermore, when a dual-chambered container is used, the contents are not guaranteed to mix together adequately when the ingredient in the upper chamber merely falls down into the liquid in the lower chamber. When the upper chamber is not removable, the opening in the top of the container may be too small to add ice cubes or crushed ice, which can contribute substantially to the appeal of the mixed drink. When the upper chamber of a dual-chambered container is removable, ice can be added, but means are typically not provided for re-closing the container and shaking the mixture. Shaking is frequently desirable when a mixed drink is prepared, because it enhances the blending of flavors and, when ice is used, the shaking process causes bits of ice to fleck off into the drink and render it icy cold. Because adding ice and/or shaking ingredients are part of the concept and appeal of making a mixed drink, dual-chambered containers tend not to be well-adapted for packaging or preparing mixed drinks.
Thus, there is a need for a method of packaging and preparing a mixed drink that offers simplicity, low expense, ease of use, a minimum of implements for preparing the drink, and flexibility and appeal to the consumer who wishes to add his or her preferred mixing base, such as liquor or a non-alcoholic beverage.